


Taizu Takeshi and the Handsome Masked Shinobi

by WolfofSummerBreeze



Category: Naruto
Genre: ANBU - Freeform, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, And Sexiest, And by that I mean being in love with multiple people, Appendage?, As in Bi-Monthly Bar Crawl, Assassination, Being a chunin is Hard, Besides Friends, Besides Tsunade, Best Sex Talk In The World, Bluntness, But also not because she could accidentally kill you really easily, But only mentions really, Cagey Ninjas, Canon-Typical Violence, Defenestration, Dimension Travel, Discussions of Feelings, Do I have enough tags?, Drowning Your Sorrows In Cheap Beer, Eyepatch, Gay, Gay Male Character, Gen, Gray Morality, Gross Teenage Hormones, Haircuts, Honeypot, I don't know what Genre this is so I'm Tagging shit, In Bed, Information is the best weapon, Innapropriate crushes, Joking about Future Fictional Progengy, Language of Flowers, Loss of Eye, Loss of Limbs?, Lying as a Job, M/M, Manipulation, Matchmaking, Mentions of Prostitution, Mentions of Underage, Mentions of Underage with a person of Legal Drinking Age or Above, Mentions of Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, Mentions of sex with multiple people, Murder, Ninja Mentality, Ninja Morality, Not Asking For Reciprocated Feelings, Or Is It?, People don't believe you when the Truth sounds Hilarious, Polyamory, Possibly Pre-Het, Possibly Pre-Slash, Possibly Unrequited Love, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Rock Lee's sexy six-pack, Second Hokage is Best Hokage, Self-Insert, Sexual Content, Sexual Harassment, Strange Coping Mechanisms, Strength in Numbers Right?, Stupid Jounin, Support Group - Weekly Brunches, Takeshi likes boys, Terrible and potnetially triggering Ninja Realities, Training, Unrepentant Self-Insert, Unrequited Love, abUsing Canon Knowledge, also threesomes/moresomes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-26
Updated: 2018-02-14
Packaged: 2018-05-23 08:34:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,259
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6110985
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WolfofSummerBreeze/pseuds/WolfofSummerBreeze
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Taizu Takeshi is perfectly content to pine from afar--if by pining you really meant brunch with five other people all hopelessly into the same guy.</p><p>He's also perfectly content to sit back and NOT get involved in ninja politics by abusing his knowledge of Canon, all while hoping he doesn't butterfly-effect the end of the world. Small things are fine. Big things? Nope.</p><p>But it can't be all smooth sailing all the time.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. What do ninjas eat for Brunch?

Of all the ridiculously crazy thoughts he had about what he'd do if he was ever pulled into the Naruto universe—anything from getting into fights with the five Kage, to single-handedly dismantling Akatsuki, to raising Naruto, to a whirlwind romance with a powerful ninja (Kakashi, usually, but sometimes Lee, because abs), to being a badass who saves peoples lives with future knowledge (even knowing he'd end up somehow paying the price for it)—none of those fantasies include weekly brunch with what amounts to Hatake Kakashi's fan group.  
  
Which is what does end up happening.  
  
And he, Taizu Takeshi, _is_ a badass, but even the most hardened badass will shriek like a little girl when faced with Anko when she's bloodthirsty and threatening castration, so it's  really not much of an accomplishment.  
  
To be honest though, this is less a group of fans and more of a... support group.  
  
Because being in love with Kakashi is stupid and it's hard and brunch helps.  
  
Kakashi is... well. Takeshi wouldn't say it was easy meeting the real person and falling in love with him, because it's not, but Takeshi is fairly sure that comparatively it was easier for him. Then again, Takeshi knows himself well enough that he falls into love pretty easily—and, unlimited by restrictions like monogamy, he's been known to fall in love with multiple people at the same time.  
  
Taizu Takeshi is in love with about half the rest of this table after all.  
  
Yamato Tenzo—who had taken Yamato as a last name at Takeshi's suggestion—is of course at the table, and is both pitied and envied for being so close to Kakashi and yet firmly in what Takeshi has begun to call the Kouhai-zone. Yuugao complains that at least he's been acknowledged, but Tenzo tends towards quiet misery when that's brought up.  
  
Uzuki Yuugao is the one who seems to always notice when someone new likes Kakashi. If they still like him after about two years she invites them to brunch like she did to Takeshi. He's still the youngest of the group though—in terms of membership—and he's fine with that since they aren't in competition. Yuugao is nearing four years of dating Hayate, actually, and bluntly told the guy to his face what the brunch was for when it started. He was just amused, according to Raidou, but Takeshi isn't surprised. Most people will admit that Kakashi is attractive, despite or because of the mask. The ones at this table are more than crush-level invested though, or else they'd have to rent a hell of a lot more space. Still, Hayate not feeling threatened is both super for Yuugao and also kind of stinging, as Kakashi is well known for his romantic interests—as in no one. He's not a threat, especially not to Hayate with a newly healthy pallor to his skin courtesy of Tsunade.  
  
Namiashi Raidou is also a member, in the friendszone, and completely okay with it. Unless you get him drunk, where he has sometimes cried his eyes out about how horrible Kakashi's life is and how he'd be a good boyfriend to Kakashi. Takeshi agrees, but he's definitly biased, so whatever. Takeshi has a pretty solid understanding of the mental state of acclaimed Copy Nin—push people away so as not to get hurt, so on and so forth—so he appreciates that Raidou is relaxed about the situation. It is shitty, but being down about it doesn't help.  
  
Hyuuga Kou is new to the group compared to most of them, only a few months before Takeshi. He's calm, but lonely, and while not soft-spoken he tends towards quiet and blends into the background more often than not. He has few friends outside the Hyuuga clan, so Takeshi thinks this is good for him. Also, the strong but quiet devotion he has towards Kakashi—for saving his life, and always trying to save the lives of his teams—is incredibly attractive—and steady enough that Yuugao takes him seriously despite his age of seventeen. He's also been on Takeshi's team for nearing six months, and they work well together, so Takeshi tends to sit next to him at brunch.  
  
Yamanaka Haruka is a stubborn woman, a medic and a mission desk worker, and retired from field work—which to Takeshi means ex-ANBU. She's a whip of a woman with a maternal side that makes some of her romantic relationships hard, since ninja are mostly independent and she has been accused of being “smothering” because of her personality. Takeshi is pretty sure that Kakashi was her Kouhai in ANBU, and enjoys the fact that that she's polite while taking no shit. She's also... not resigned about getting Kakashi's attention or affection, but more... like for her it was an inevitability, a fact of life she has to deal with, so she approaches it like a problem when it is one and bonds over it when others express similar feelings because she likes helping people. She expects nothing and never has, and sometimes lacks pity for those who do expect something. Since the group as a whole doesn't expect anything, they get along of course. It would be nice, but they are ninja, and realistic perhaps to a fault.  
  
The last person is Anko.  
  
Well, when Kurenai drags her to brunch at least. Kurenai has no interest, but Anko won't show up without being hassled by her or physically moved. Anko thinks meeting up is stupid, pointless, and she hates herself for her feelings and views them as weak.  
  
Anko deals with her issues revolving around Kakashi on the bi-monthly bar crawl instead. She gets plastered, occasionally has sex with people, occasionally blows people up, and occasionally whines to one of the others about how stupidly sexy Kakashi is and how he doesn't shy away from her or look down on her for being a woman/Orochimaru's apprentice/a slut/in T&I/fucking terrifying.

 

Takeshi has noticed that she lets herself be dragged to brunch at least once a month despite her protests. It's probably because 'Information is the greatest weapon a ninja can have' and that all ninja are horrible gossips and it's worse when there is a group of them involved. And then add an agenda? It just escalates.

 

“So is it me,” Haruka asks the moment Kurenai goes to the bathroom, “or is Tsume's brat panting after Kakashi like he's in heat?”  
  
“You're joking,” replies Yuugao, tone in half disbelief, half in that controled voice that means she's trying not to laugh.  
  
Anko spits a dango skewer from her mouth, it lands in the design she's been making on the back of the booth between Takeshi and Kou's heads—a penis, if Takeshi is guessing right. “Nope, kid totally realized he's into dicks, especially the one-eyed kind,” Anko says lasciviously. Raidou snort into his coffee at that.  
  
Takeshi can't help himself. “Fifteen is a bit young for me, but I suppose I could take him for a spin. You know. Get it out of his system.” He winks at Anko—mostly because it disturbs her that she can tell it's a wink and not a blink—and then casually dodges the senbon she throws at his only remaining eye. She scowls in response.  
  
“Don't let Kurenai hear you say that,” says Yuugao. “She's either liable to take you up on it or give you nightmares for weeks.”  
  
“Hey, at least I'd treat him right.”  
  
“Point,” says Kou, because Kou at least has his back.  
  
“Also,” Takeshi continues more seriously, “I think it might be because Kakashi's good with dogs and doesn't wear scents that they find repulsive? On top of the usual reasons I mean.”  
  
Tenzo looks kind of ill as the rest of the table nods at this. “Can we not talk about devirginizing a fifteen year old?”  
  
Which is of course when Kurenai comes back from the washroom. “Who's doing what now?”  
  
“Anko and Takeshi are talking about being Pedophiles again,” Haruka says, unashamedly throwing them under the bus.  
  
“Excuse me,” Takeshi says, offended, as Anko draws out a brace of Kunai threateningly, “But it's Ephebophile when the subject is fifteen.” The 'you uncultured swine' is implied in such a way that everyone knows he's deliberately attempting to be aggravating.  
  
“The fact that you know that doesn't help your case,” counters Kou, because he's also a backstabbing bastard.

 

“If he can die,” Anko snarls, “he can fuck.”

 

No one can respond to that. It's true after all.  
  
“Were you talking about Kiba?” Kurenai asks, cutting straight to the heart of the matter like the uncanny woman she is, eyes on Takeshi. “Because I'd like to talk to you about that actually.”  
  
Yuugao mutters a quiet, “Called it,” which Takeshi ignores.  
  
“I'm not gonna actually sex up a—fuck it, I can set him up with mini-Gai since I already gave Lee the best sex talk in the world,” Takeshi says. It's even true, agreed on by all the students he gave it to, even if it's incredibly embarrassing by virtue of being a sex talk, and it goes way too in depth about many subjects—but then again, it was also voluntary. So what if Ino couldn't use her clan Jutsu for a week?That was the only negative side-effect. Hinata was fine, and so were Lee, Sakura, Shino, Gaara, and Temari.  
  
It also gave him S-class mission pay. Something about giving the sex talk to the Kazekage or something. Like Takeshi would care about that when faced with his most curious student.

 

Gaara is a kinky bastard and whoever snags his heart will be very luck to have him.  
  
Kureani blinks at the suggestion—what did she expect? He's not gonna fuck up the team dynamic by choosing poor Shino. “Would that even work?” she asks. “I mean, he's already a bit fixated, so...”  
  
“Psh,” Takeshi replies, waving a hand in front of his face. “Teenage hormones. Kakashi's 'safe' because he's unapproachable.” To most people anyway. Also safe because he's never dated anyone. “Give me two weeks, and I bet you'll be surprised at how fast I can change where his attention lies.”

 

He already has half a plan. It involves a Gai-bootcamp for Team Eight, sparring, convenient explosions, Lee's disgustingly conditioned body on display and out of that awful jumpsuit, and playing with Akamaru. Also maybe a river or two, or water jutsu. Maybe a haircut for Lee, if he gets lucky. (For Gai AND Lee, if he's extra persuasive.)  
  
Tenzo shudders when Takeshi's gaze falls on him. “Oh no,” he says, “don't involve me.”  
  
“Oh? But I'm sure you could suggest to Kakashi that Gai might try to get a different haircut if it's posed as a challenge.” And Lee would of course copy it for solidarity if nothing else.

 

Anko Cackles. Capital C and everything.

 

“Fuck,” Raidou says, “Why didn't I ever think of that?”  
  
“Takeshi,” Kurenai says slowly, like she's testing out his name. “I think you might actually be a genius.”  
  
“That's the same thing you said when I told you I was using shadow clones to make sex-ed more of a private class.”  
  
“It's a pity you're still gay.”  
  
“We would have beautiful children.”  
  
They clink their glasses of orange juice together as though they're sake cups—with all the solemnity it deserves. Asuma's face behind Kurenai's shoulder where she hasn't yet noticed him is priceless.

 

-

 

Two weeks later Kakashi finds him practicing chakra control by balancing twenty leaves on different parts of his body while water-walking on a more rapid part of a stream.

 

It's not easy—it's actually fucking ridiculous but it has given him amazing chakra control _in his feet even,_ so whatever—and when he finally notices Kakashi obviously waiting for him on the bank—orange book out and everything—he of course goes straight down into the water.

 

He pulls himself out a few seconds later, all leaves still attached at least, and uses a water jutsu to dry himself off. Well, mostly dry.  
  
He doesn't say anything when Kakashi approaches, just nods and rakes his hands through his hair—still wet, as usual when he uses that jutsu—and let's Kakashi start the conversation and he begins to stack the leaves in one hand.  
  
“So I hear you're who I have to thank for someone's affections being... redirected.”

 

Ah. Kiba.  
  
“I also suggested the haircut challenge to Tenzo,” he replies with makes Kakashi's single visible eyebrow go up. Takeshi drags a hand down his eyepatch and—aw, geeze, there's some water that got in the socket. Gross. He draws it out as subtly as he can. “So, yeah.”

 

Kakashi is sporting a more... reserved hair cut. It's noting special, just short, and he's mostly apologizing—If that's what he's even doing by offering up that info—'cause Kakashi lost that challenge—even if he does look incredibly handsome still—merely because the judges were so shocked at Gai getting rid of his frighteningly bad former haircut. Positive reinforcement, right?  
  
Kakashi sighs. “Maaa, seems like I'm in your debt twice over.”  
  
Technically, so are Kiba, Lee, and Gai, because Takeshi is 99% sure he got all of them laid.  
  
“Nah, it was fun.”  
  
Kakashi 'hmmms' under his breath. “I'm surprised you know Tenzo.”  
  
It's not a question, but it's a blatant search for information. Takeshi, however, tends towards blunt when he can't use sly—surprisingly few people expect it.  
  
“Oh, you know, we have brunch together with other people where we all get together and commiserate about being in love with you.”  
  
Kakashi doesn't move a milimeter. In fact, he's definitly too still. “Ah? Isn't Anko in that group?” The tone is humoring. Disbelief and incredulity, then? But if he knows that Anko is in the group then he would know that Tenzo and Takeshi are too, along with Raidou who's affection is less obvious, which is a misstep on Takeshi's part with the amount of info he was trying to give, but confirms Kakashi wants some information. Probably about his motives in... what? Does Kakashi think he was taking out the competition? Or does he just not believe that a group of people would be into him?  
  
“She is. Also, if she finds out you know she'll end both of us. She hates liking you and her end goal is being a strong independent woman until the end—blaze of glory and bloodbath or dentures and dirty jokes.”  
  
Kakashi's face is hilariously pained. He's probably going to change the topic. “The group involving yourself, Hyuuga Kou, Yamanaka Haruka, Tenzo, Namiashi Raidou, Uzuki Yuugai, and Yuuhi Kurenai?”  
  
“Ah, no, Kurenai is only Anko's placeholder when she's not there or her minder when she is. You don't need to worry about Sarutobi-san trying to explode you anytime soon.”  
  
Kakashi winces like he's not sure if he should be relived. “And you're telling me all this, why?”  
  
“You wanted to know my motives, yes?” He smiles victoriously when Kakashi slowly nods. “Mmmm, well, Kiba? Kurenai ask me to, actually. It was either set him up or sleep with him, and I'd rather be on Tsume's good side.” Which isn't the whole reason, but saying: 'I don't want to start a relationship with a teenager who can't even be circumspect about how into you he is?' Like he would ever. Also Tsume would totally kill him, too, so it's not like it's invalid. Easiest way to lie is with the truth.  
  
“Ah,” is all Kakashi says.

 

They stand there staring at each other awkwardly, eye to eye. Takeshi tries, and fails, to not think 'the first rule about eyepatch club is that you don't talk about eyepatch club'. He manages to keep a straight face somehow.

 

Kakashi shifts, uncomfortable. A few more seconds tick by.

 

Takeshi manages not to shift, mainly through sheer force of will and practice singing Handel's Messiah in Carnegie Hall for two hours—standing the whole time.

 

“With all respect, Taizu-san, you hardly know me.”

 

Takeshi... relaxes.

 

It throws Kakashi off the slightest bit.

 

It feels like victory.

 

“You're an asshole who reads porn in public, with commitment issues that are so pervasive you have barely anyone you consider friends, and you're noble enough to try and save your teammates all the time.” Kakashi looks like he's going to say something so Takeshi raises a hand to hopefully stop him. “You're so caught up in the past that you're liable to lose people you know now without getting as much time with them as you could have, which will only add to your regrets. You also know that your friends who are dead would probably hate that you spend so much time talking to them when you could be talking to people who are still alive to answer you. And you also have an unfortunate habit of revealing S-Class secrets when you're catching the dead up on your life.” Kakashi's eye goes wide with horror at this last remark. “Though luckily I haven't overheard anything I didn't already know.”

 

“How long,” Kakashi asks, eye now glaring, “have you been spying on me?”

 

Takeshi shifts onto the heels of his feet, glances up at the sky, then down at the river, then at a tree.  
  
“I did it twice. Once cause you'd lost a team mate and I decided to take a suicide watch—don't even try to ask who organized that—and once when I had woken up after spending the night after training in a nearby tree and didn't know how to leave without you noticing.” The fact that he might have done those on purpose because he remembered that ObiTobi did the same thing? Totally irrelevant. Though it might also be too late in the game to prevent any information from being stolen, Takeshi would take the chance he had been provided. He'd never engineered a meeting between them, so this was the first opportunity he'd had to cut off that flow of information. Working it into the conversation had at least been easier than expected.  
  
Kakashi's hand slides out of his weapon pouch—and when had it gone in anyway? Fucking jonin.

 

“Hey,” Takeshi starts, hands still up in surrender, “I get it, it's weird. Yuugao is dating a guy,” Which Kakashi would know, the rumor mill being crazy as it is, “Haruka is overbearingly mothering, Anko is Anko,” which earns him a snort at least, “Kou likes to play invisible, Tenzo is your Kohai, and Raidou is a friend.” He grins and impishly as he can. “And you're fucked up enough to think no one could ever love you, because you think you're broken or something.”

 

He met Kakashi's stare head on. Eye on? He wasn't the first one to look away.  
  
“The thing is, we know all this, and most of us care either despite all your baggage or because of all of it,” he tries to explain, “and while you don't have to even acknowledge that if you don't want, you don't get to tell us that what we feel is wrong either.”  
  
Kakashi stares at the river for a moment. “Which one are you?”  
  
Takeshi blinks—which is hard with one eye, but possible—confused. “Which—what??”

 

“Despite my baggage or because of it?”  
  
Takeshi... thinks about it. He looks at the sky, because it's blue and vast and endless and somehow comforting. He decides. If he's going to be blunt he'll at least go all in.  
  
“Nah.”  
  
“Nah?”  
  
“I don't love you because you've had a shitty life but it didn't break you. I don't love you because you're a genius or because you prioritize your teammates. I love you,” He brings his gaze down to meet Kakashi's. “I love you because you're a good and admirable person, but also because you're kind of a dick.”

 

Kakashi looks... hilariously nonplussed.

 

“Excuse me?”  
  
“You're an unrepentant pervert remember? You fuck with people's heads all the time. Kakashi, I love you because I'm selfish.” He chuckled at the confusion spreading across Kakashi's somehow-expressive face. “I love you because you make me laugh.”

 

Something in Kakashi's expression cleared at that, so Takeshi decided to leave him there, blinking by the river.

 

-

 

“Taizu. That's not a clan name.”  
  
Kurenai didn't sigh. “I thought you were going to talk to him?”  
  
“I did.”  
  
And came back with more questions than answers, then. Kurenai can't say she wasn't surprised. Or was she impressed? Kakashi probably hadn't come out of that conversation feeling like a winner, not if he was coming to her, so Taizu-kun probably threw him through a loop. She wonders how he did it, but knowing Taizu-kun she isn't sure she wants to know. He's a bit of an enigma about the weirdest things.  
  
“Civilian, two generations ago. Both sides.” And then, because fuck it, she continues, “Twenty-two, five eight feet, one seventy-two centimeters, blue-green eye, brown-orange hair, chunin. Lost the eye when a genin during his chunin exam tournament fight deliberately stabbed him to make it easier for the next opponent to take him down, most likely bribed to do it for gambling purposes. Managed to get to the finals before forfeiting due to pain and chakra depletion, which net him one of two promotions. Good with elemental seals. Favors ninja tools: preferably ninja wire, the katana, and the bow.” Kurenai didn’t need to look to know that the last one got a reaction. It usually did. “He became a sensor after losing the eye. He's a good shot. Strengths are stealth based genjutsu, coding C and D-rank ninjutsu into seals on his arrows, escape and retreat tactics, solo missions, sabotage, information gathering, field-applicable medical jutsu, chakra control, some capture,” apparently hard-won, from all the bitching about it he's done, “and unofficially—as I've only seen it once—ninja wire that's controlled like chakra strings combined with the hardening/cutting of lightning chakra.” She turns a bit and finally meets Kakashi's eye. “For that last one alone he should probably be made tokubetsu. He mainly is assigned recon missions and works in T&I. I know he trains with Gai as well, though not often, but he seems to want to stay under the radar for some reason. His taijutsu isn't mentioned in his records, nor is his sealing level if you judge by taking a look at his apartment's security seals. Also I haven’t confirmed it, but his reaction when Naruto comes up in conversation makes me think that he's the one who kept leaving food and clothes.”  
  
The last one is likely to be a concern for Kakashi—who worries more about others than himself even if he rarely acts on it. The clothing was orange—orange and black. Tiger-like stripes. It was a post-graduation gift, and ANBU hadn't spilled who it was even if they knew. Kurenai was fairly sure Kakashi didn't know either since Tenzo had mentioned how hiding things from the guy sucked around the same time the clothes had appeared. The food was mostly salads, but with dressing already on them, and in sealed jars so they wouldn't go bad. From what Kakashi had said, Naruto actually ate them, so he hadn't looked into it. It's not like poison would have worked on the jinchuriki anyway.  
  
Kakashi, of course, just eye-smiled at her. “Well, that's nice, but I was just going to ask where he lived, not a dissertation! But thanks!”  
  
Kurenai's eye twitched.  
  
She'd buried kunai hilt deep in men before. Somehow, Kakashi was still able to get to her. She brought a hand up to the bridge of her nose. She didn't get 'those' people at all, despite all the brunches. This guys was too much of a dick. Give her cigarettes and shogi any day.

 

“Fuck you. I am not enabling your stalking,” she said, ignoring Kakashi's pout, and turning around. She would find Anko. And then maybe a bar. Kakashi tended to avoid both of those.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Been wanting to write self-insert forever. I know, weird goal, but SOMEONE does a really good Tales of Symphonia SI that's also not really and SI and I get ideas. Lots of Ideas. OP Ideas, which are bad because Mary-Sue's are bad. Takeshi... might be a Sue. We'll see. Even if he is, as long as you enjoy it, it's fine.
> 
> And Yeah, Tenzo isn't Tenzou solely 'cause I think it looks weird. D-E-A-L.


	2. Having it be your job is not and never has been 'Asking for it'.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Did you think it would all be humor? Sorry, but they are ninja.

Kakashi runs into Takeshi next in a place that was not a bar or around Anko, thankfully.

 

It wasn't planned, which was great! Random coincidences made stalki—Ahem. Made gathering information so much easier.

 

Though to be honest, this type of situation wasn't ideal.

 

“Shimada-san,” Takeshi said, not even deigning to turn around to face the man clutching at his wrist, “Is there something you need?”

 

Kakashi was in a stairwell on his way to the mission desk—one of the more out of the way stairs—when he decided to lean against the wall two floors below his destination—which was coincidentally where Taizu Takeshi seemed to be coming from. If asked, Kakashi would say he just wanted to make sure he was caught up on Gena and Tamasai's budding romance and certainly not at all lying in wait to ambush intriguingly strange chunin. What a horrible accusation. Kakashi is offended you would think so low of such an upstanding citizen of Konoha! So what if it had turned to eavesdropping using the reflection of a very conveniently placed potted plant? His intentions were pure! Unlike Shimada.

 

Shimada was a tokubetsu jounin, one of those who worked in the T part of T & I, though Kakashi had heard he wasn't exactly stellar at his job. Average, but not unattractive. Mediocre combat skills for tokubetsu, one of those nin who made it obvious just why Anko should be a jounin through the sheer difference in skill.

 

“You know what I need. You in my bed.”

 

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. My, my… How forward. How droll.

 

Takeshi tilted his head, his eye meeting Kakashi's through the reflection. Ah, Kureani had said he was a sensor. Busted. Kakashi blinked innocently.

 

“I've said no before. I'm sure there are other men—”

 

“Oh, but none of them are you, Takeshi,” Shimada said, voice like dripping oil. Kakashi felt something cold settle in his gut at the lack of honorific. “Guys who can submit are hard to—”

 

“Submit?” Takeshi's voice is sharp, but not loud. He turns around, one arm still holding close to his chest the papers he was likely delivering, the other with it's wrist still in the grip of Shimada. “Why would you think I'd submit to you? To anyone?”

 

Despite the atmosphere Kakashi can't help but think of Takeshi, who he should be righfully thinking of as Taizu-san, that day on the riverbank. His clear and open expression, his single eye a vibrant teal, his hair that ridiculous shade of almost-orange, that self-depreciating confession that somehow made Kakashi take it more seriously than he thought he would. He think of Takeshi tipping his head back to look at the sky, throat bared and open, and thinks— _I think he would submit for me, if I asked—_ even as his mind shies away from the thought.

 

“Oh please, a guy like _you_?” Shimada says, in such a way that it's obvious he really means _gay_ instead. “You've had so many men there's no way that—”

 

“—don't—” Takeshi bites out.

 

“—haven't, or do you just use genjutsu? I wouldn't mind that. But I don't think that's it. Not with the amount of missions—”

 

The movement is so fast that—between trying to register what he just heard and trying to classify his own feelings on it—he almost missed the action of Takeshi dropping the papers he was holding to slap  some kind of paper-based seal over Shimada's mouth. It makes him let go and stumble back, giving Kakashi enough time to jump up to the stairwell landing so he has a clear view of what happens next—which is that a chunin  who is known for his sniping skills kicks a tokubetsu jonin out a window while using ninja wire to lash his feet together. It's even more impressive since Kakashi glimpses another paper seal being stuck to Shimada by Takeshi's foot as he kicks him. It's even a seal he recognizes, one for binding and paralysis that forces the arms of the person to their sides. He's fairly certain that—combined with the seal over his mouth that Kakashi thinks stops anything  up to and  including sound  and jutsu from escaping—Shimada is going absolutely nowhere.

 

Takeshi turns to him and says, brightly  _and_ loudly—likely for Shimada's sake, “Ah, Hatake-san! I didn't see you there!”

 

It's such a horribly blatant lie paired with a mock surprised expression that Kakashi almost laughs. Instead he walks over to the window, looks down at Shimada, and smiles as placidly yet deadly as he can.

 

Shimada, strung upside down and thus with most of his blood rushing to his head, manages to turn white.

 

There's a little known thing Kakashi learned from Anko, one that has to do with T&I. It's an unwritten rule that everybody involved knows about and it is this:

 

Do not reveal the identities of anyone who goes on seduction missions.

 

It's unwritten because there are always extenuating circumstances for exceptions, however Kakashi knows from having gone on a few himself that most people involved are iron clams about the topic. Anko even goes so far as to make people think she runs them,  just to draw attention away from the people who do. Add on to that the fact that one of the most in-demand people are men who  are will ing run honeypot missions where they seduce other guys—not because  a lack of them in ninja cities but more because of a lack of them who are good at it as well as able to deal with the possibility of the reputation they would get if it ever got out—well, Kakashi knows that what Shimada just did, what he just revealed  _in a public place_ no less, is the closest Kakashi has seen come to backstabbing in Konoha without actual wounds.

 

Reputation is a lot in the ninja world. Information is better than gold. Even if being a slut or a whore is nothing to be ashamed of, people would make it difficult for someone who is one for a multitude of reasons. Anko doesn't care, has calculated the burden is knows she can bear it, knows it's nothing to what she deals with because of her old sensei. And not only would Kakashi worry about his friends being perceived differently for being outed as a seduction agent, but also there is the fact that seduction agents thrive on being unknown. Taizu Takeshi likely would have his career as an information gatherer cut short—something that is likely benefiting Konoha more than whatever Shimada is doing by at least a multiplier of one hundred.

 

“My! What an interesting discussion you two had!” Kakashi opines, as joyously as he is able to while still focusing his not inconsiderable killer intent at the trussed up shinobi. “It was so interesting,” he nicks his hand and summons Pakkun in one clean motion, “that I think the overseer of T&I should hear this. Pakkun if you would be so _kind_ as to get Inoichi?”

 

Pakkun stares at him for a second and then snorts. He doesn't even say hi, which is probably for the best.

 

Kakashi leans against the wall near the window and pulls his book back out. Takeshi sits on the window ledge and starts casually cutting his nails with a kunai—in full view of Shimada of course.

 

Ten minutes later and Takeshi goes still. Kakashi pulls his gaze up from the book to catch him frowning and then swearing once under his breath. Next thing he knows,  Takeshi reels Shimada in, dumping him at their feet and turning to face Inoichi and—Ah. Shit.

 

He turns to face an approaching Yamanaka Inoichi and Shimura Danzo.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah~ thank you for all the lovely comments! Also those Kudos. I did not expect... well. Thanks.
> 
> As for the story, I know. Chapter 2 and we get Danzo already? And sexual harassment? Well, yes. I've been toying with waaaay to many scenes. So many I thought for a while I might never update. But the thing is, Takeshi has been what basically amount to a whore since halfway through conception. I am personally a slut. It's not such a stretch that I would learn how to fuck guys for info. Killing them maybe not so much, but Takeshi is an exploration of how I think I would adapt to the world of Naruto, so in a way I guess he's only a self-insert in the loosest sense.
> 
> To all those people who tried to assure me that Takeshi is NOT a Mary-sue, thank you! You're so sweet! You're also making that decision based off of the first chapter. I'm not saying you're wrong, but maybe gather more data before you draw your conclusions. I haven't even gotten started yet. Trust me, he'll get there.
> 
> Also it's really hard for me to draw up a reliable plot. I have two specific moments that spawned this godawful wonderful creation, but working up them is proving challenging. Thank you for sticking around, if you do so.


	3. Whoever said lying doesn't get you things?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Danzo Shimura is the worst. Fuck that guy. I don't care if he's one of the only real shinobi in the goddamn series, he's manipulative in a way that IS 100% UNHEALTHY.

Kakashi stared, bemused.

“Ah, and well, you see, Kakashi-sempai knew it was sensitive information,” Takeshi elucidates in such a halting and unsure tone, shaking and sweating visibly—which is impressive considering Kakashi is ninety-five percent sure his whole demeanor is an act. “So sempai—the next thing I knew was—he—”

Inoichi holds up a hand, face serious but eyes betraying only a fraction of amusement. “Thank you Taizu-san, I think we get the picture.”

He looks down at Shimada lays passed out at their feet, and Kakashi still can't figure out when the sleep genjutsu was cast on him.

Danzo harumphs. Takeshi flinches. Inoichi raises an eyebrow at Danzo.

“Is your presence here really necessary, Inoichi?”

Inoichi doesn't react to the lack of honorific, smiling placidly instead. “Since coming out of retirement, you know how odd my position is.” As the title he now held was that of an Overseer of T&I, where he held all of his former access and only diminished power and reported directly to the Hokage herself... well, he could see why Danzo would be disgruntled. “To be honest, this just saves time. This is not Shimada-san's first infraction.”

Danzo's gaze flickers back to Shimada. “And was it such a breach of clearance?” He turns to Takeshi—obviously thinking him the weak link, and thus the easiest of the three of them to get the info out of.

Takeshi looks like a nervous puppy. His eyes dart around the stairwell. “Ah, well, we're still—”

“I'll find out,” Inoichi interrupts, smoothly kneeling before using his clan's jutsu.

Kakashi steps forward just enough to be beside him, facing Danzo. It's a subtle dig at him more than anything else, because Kakashi doesn't think he'd actually attack Inoichi. Still, the message is clear enough, and Danzo's eye meets his own.

Kakashi has to fight down the sudden silly thought that they must make quite a sight, three men with one eye uncovered each.

Inoichi opens his eyes and stands up, seemingly unconcerned about the stand-off that was going on over his head. “Well, it seems we'll need to get someone new in T&I.”

Danzo's brow furrows immediately.

“I did a preliminary wipe,” Inoichi continues, “but if you could take him down to the office to make sure I didn't miss anything, Takeshi, that would be great.”

Takeshi—wide eyed—merely nods. He then looks down at the papers he has clutched in his hands. “Uh—”

“A wipe?” Danzo cuts in. “Surely it was not so urgent?”

Iniocho turned to face him head-on. “You know the paperwork then sign when becoming members of T&I. If you're judged as too compromised, all memories can be wiped at any time. This kind of a thing is still my purview.” He slights Danzo, turning his back to him, facing Takeshi fully. “Are those for the Hokage? I'll deliver them.”

Takeshi nods, handing them over, and then grabs some of the wire encasing his prisoner and absconds—dragging Shimada behind him in what Kakashi would bet is vindictiveness combines with wanting away from such a tense atmosphere. Certainly a man capable of a kick that punts a man out of a window is capable of carrying a guy over his shoulder instead of bruising the prisoner via stairs.

Inoichi turns back to Danzo. “Was there more that you wanted, Shimura-san?”

Danzo's eye flicks to Kakashi, so fast Kakashi almost misses it. “No. Please consider what we talked about.”

“Of course,” Inoichi says affably. “Kakashi, were you also heading to the Hokage? Sakura hasn't seen much of you lately, I want to be prepared if she decides to grill me again.” He's already moving up the stairs by the time he finishes, so Kakashi leaps to join him.

Halfway to the office—having left Danzo behind—Kakashi changes the conversation abruptly.

“How influential is Taizu-san's skill?”

Inoichi barely reacts, likely as he was expecting it. “He's probably one of the best out there.”

“So I can assume that Shimada was one of his?” It goes unsaid that by 'his' that he means Danzo.

“Likely.”

“And that he's attracted such attention?”

“Not good. I won't be surprised if his description begins circulating in the underworld.”

Kakashi considers this. “Would that stop him being effective?”

Inoichi flashes a smile. “Hardly. But that would just escalate the leak until it was more specific info.”

Likely, what would happen would be info about his targets, or the location of his present jobs. Takeshi drew a bad straw, attracting this attention.

Inoichi stops as they turn the corner to the hallway with the door to the Hokage's office, turning to face Kakashi full-on. “It's lucky that he's never needed us to give him jobs to get information.”

“Oh?” Kakashi says, mirroring him. What an interesting tidbit. Above and beyond the call of duty, hmm?

“He's a very good shinobi,” Inoichi continues, “with a well-rounded skill set. He doesn't stand out in combat, but his base is solid. I worry, though, that he'll have to retire from T&I soon.”

Kakashi isn't surprised. Seduction agents usually don't stay in their jobs terribly long, even if they are really good. Some will come back to it after a rotation of a few years, but most people find it distasteful on some level, or mentally damaging. Still, for Inoichi to make a point of mentioning it...

“That will be a shame,” Kakashi says. “For T&I, at least.”

Inoichi smiles, and nods, his message received.

Kakashi stands there, thinking after he leaves, then decides the Hokage can wait one more hour. He thinks it's about time to verify the information Kurenai gave him. Maybe they've upped their security seals down in records, too. Kakashi does like a challenge.

-

Tsunade, at this point in their acquaintance, mainly tossed stuff at Kakashi out of habit.

Kakashi, because he was a show-off and a bastard, merely caught the kunai and began spinning it around a finger.

“Hokage-sama~,” he practically sang, eye-smiling at her. “I found a solution~!”

Tsunade sighed and slouched, dismissing the ANBU who had finished reporting and activating the security seals. She had a lot of problems. Chances were, this one was going to be too high clearance for it to get back to Danzo.

“This better be good,” she growled. Shizune had poisoned her lunch-time drink with a taste-number, likely made by Sakura, and she was still pissed.

“It's about the six-man team.”

Tsunade sat up.

Recently, two ANBU had been added to Kakashi's team due to extenuating circumstances. Thus, it included Kakashi as leader, Yamato, Raido, Genma, Hayate, and Yuugao. They worked good together, but smaller teams tended to be ideal. Ever since Kakashi had come back to ANBU she'd been looking for a way to break them up to give her two trustworthy teams.

“You have a solution?”

He threw her two scrolls.

They were dossiers on two chuunin. Probably information accesses illegally, despite him having the clearance. Paranoid bastard, not wanting a paper trail. She'd have to let records know he got in again.

“Isn't Taizu a forefront seduction agent?”

Kakashi seemed to expect this. “He's been a chuunin for quite a while, and he's attracted some unsavory attention for down below.”

Tsunade scowled. Fucking Danzo. “You taking him in isn't going to do that any favors.”

Kakashi shrugged. “Tenzo can sponsor them, or Raido or Yuugao. You can say you bent my arm over it. But Inoichi trusts him, and having Inoichi evaluate the other one would be simple enough.”

She looked at the record of Hyuuga Kou. He was young, but a promotion would not be uncalled for with his skills. And he seemd to work well with Taizu... but where had she heard these names before?

“Wait,” Tsunade, fifth Hokage, looked up at one of her best jonin and the guy who was on top of her list of successors, “are you seriously promoting your fan club to ANBU?”

Kakashi splutters, red tinging the skin around his eye. “How do you know about that!?”

Tsunade grins, shark-like. “I'm the Hokage. Also I'm too smart to actually reveal my sources.”

It was Sakura. She'd done some recon and come back mentally traumatized. Luckily for Tsunade, she still wasn't over it.

Kakashi narrowed his eye at her. “It's not because they're part of my—it's not a fan club.”

Tsunade conceded this point. Still. “Are you sure that's healthy?”

“If exposure to me doesn't dull it, what will?” he rebuffs, cynically. Tsunade refrained from laughing in his face. She had bets down with a certain Nara clan head and could honestly say that none of the options involved Tenzo, Raido, or Taizu Takeshi recinding their affections. When a Nara doesn't bring it up as an option you know it's not one. The Hyuuga, maybe, but what she saw of Takeshi, well. Any guy who gives a sex talk to a formerly-murderous jinchuriki who is now head of his villiage while IN that villiage—which is basically all sand and thus a giant weapon for Gaara should he choose to use it as such—any guy like that has balls of steel as far as she is concerned.

Not that she knows what he sees in Kakashi.

Still. This might be good for both of them.

She stamps the requisition forms attached to the scrolls, and then grins at Kakashi.

“I think Taizu should have that mask.”

Kakashi—in the middle of reaching to take the forms back—stills. He then groans in pain, wincing. “What did he ever do to you?”

She doesn't answer him. If anything, she'll be interested to hear of his reaction. The Fox mask, after all, hasn't been in circulation over a decade.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yussss. Sorry for taking so long to update. Depressions. People dying. You know how it is.
> 
> And yeah, that's right, his ANBU mask should he choose to accept it (assuming it's not a military order? How does Konoha Bureaucracy?) is a Fox. Considering the Kyuubi, that's the opposite of going under the Radar in Konoha. He won't be happy about it. I'm not happy about it, but it's also too good to pass up.
> 
> Also, I have WAY TO MANY POWERS I wanna give this guy. Sticking to two out of like seven is hard. It's really more like two and two-halves. Uhg. Realism.
> 
> I mean, Then Again, my relationship tags...


	4. How long it takes to grow.

Tsunade remembers meeting Takeshi. He was in Gekko Hayate's room, and he'd been near-indistinguishable from the furniture. Presence concealment at such a high level was quite interesting, but she had a patient, and as long as the man behind the jutsu stayed out of her way she'd let him. Maybe he'd learn something.  
  
She'd love it if more shinobi learned something about medical procedures, chakra based or not.  
  
Hayate had been brought in partially healed from a wound he'd apparently gotten spying. Whoever provided first aid to him had been thorough, setting up seals that supported his lungs and managing to use wire to hold the bones that had been severed. It was unconventional work, but effective, even if the actual medical jutsu wasn't up to Tsunade's exacting standards. He'd been dropped off by someone of note, but she'd overlooked the information on who had done it in favor of the patients medical history, for now. The man had a chronic cough he'd worked through, but Tsunade could easily isolate the cause of the issue as nerve damage and mutation in the lungs' muscle, meaning his lung capacity was down forty percent and if he breathed wrong they would seize.  
  
When she finished the first of her treatments, an hour or so later, she turned to stare at her watcher. “Name?” she demanded.  
  
“Taizu Takeshi,” he replied, dropping his jutsu, his left eye meeting hers in a stare that was as challenging as it was bland.  
  
“Did you have fun watching?”  
  
His eye went to Hayate, resting there calmly before flickering back up to her unimpressed countenance.  
  
“I never would have thought to re-grow the nerves in his lungs.” Tsunade froze her face, trying not to show her shock. He had seen that much? “Did you need to use that lightning jutsu to cut off the pain sensors? Couldn't you have done it with a seal instead of working on the main problem with only one hand?”  
  
A medical question? How interesting. She felt herself relax minutely at the familiar territory. Still, she didn't answer. Taizu Takeshi, hmm?  
  
“Tomorrow, are you free?”  
  
He blinked at her, one of his eyebrows furrowing slightly, the other raising just a fraction. “I'm helping construct new water mains for the ones that were damaged in the mornings, Hokage-sama.”  
  
Light duty, huh? “Were you injured in the invasion, chuunin?”  
  
He nodded at her, mouth slightly pursed no doubt at the reminder of whatever had damaged him.  
  
“Well?” she questioned brazenly. “Whats the injury?”  
  
“Lung puncture, caused by chakra scalpel.” Tsunade had to suck in a breath. There was only one person she could reliably attribute a wound of that nature to, and if so then she was surprised the man in the corner seat of this hospital room was still alive. “The aim was to make me drown in my own blood, but luckily he missed my trachea.”  
  
She stormed up to him, ignoring his suddenly alarmed expression, and slapped her hands to his chest despite his flinch.  
  
She scanned him. He swallowed, staring up at her, still in the chair.  
  
No nerve damage, meaning they were connected back swiftly. Residual scarring, but it was minor and none would interfere with his breathing. No blood residue either. This man looked like he had been healed months ago.  
  
“Did you manage to repay him for the trouble?” she asked, pretending to still be occupied scanning. At most she could reduce the scarring, but that was it. Well-trained first aid, near immediately after the wound happened, she would bet. A battle medic, probably.  
  
“Yes, but he regenerates.” Takeshi's eyes went to her breasts for the first time—surprising since she'd all but shoved them in his face. “Though I believe you already know that.”  
  
Oh.  
  
He was staring where she'd been ran through by kusanagi.  
  
How did this brat know?!  
  
She cuffed him upside the head. “Who treated you?”  
  
He looked a little wide-eyed at the love-tap. Maybe he thought she'd use more strength? He'd no doubt heard of her abilities.  
  
“No one, Hokage-sama.”  
  
She paused contemplatively. Self-healing while, what, funneling his blood out of his lungs? “And you were worried about me doing to different jutsu with each hand.”  
  
Only the tops of his cheekbones turned red, but it was enough of an answer for her. Why was it her hunches always paid out when there was no one to bet with about them?  
  
“Tomorrow after lunch, come to the Hokage's office.”  
  
“Hokage-sama?”  
  
“That's an order.”  
  
He studied her, then nodded. “Yes, Hokage-sama.”  
  
Good. She'd need to come up with a way of evaluating the medics, he'd be a good start.  
  
She'd teach more of these shinobi first aid if she had to cram it down their throat. If they already knew some, she would make them better at it. Tsunade was going to make sure she had as few deaths burdening her conscious as she could. It didn't matter if she was strong enough to take the burden now, others wouldn't be. She's save as many from her pain as she could, she swore on Sensei's grave.  
  
-  
  
Tenzo met Takeshi when they were both twenty-two. Hayate had introduced them at a bar, and Tenzo had calmly greeted him. They fell into conversation fairly quickly, moving from psychology to plants to flower meanings before Tenzo found himself distracted by sempai joining the group.  
  
He realized where his eyes had wandered, only to bring them back on to Takeshi's smirking face. Bracing himself, he glowered, but Takeshi only smiled.  
  
“I'm a sensor,” he said, softly, “So I don't have to turn around to know who you're staring at.”  
  
Tenzo swallowed, slightly flustered but trying not to show it. “Please don't, uh.”  
  
“Don't, what? Shoot myself in the foot?” Takeshi said, his eye boring in to Tenzo's, his eyebrows both raised in expetation. But why would he...  
  
Oh.  
  
“You too?!” He practically gasped before turning deliberately away from sempai, the back of his neck hopefully only looking flushed from the alcohol.  
  
“I never claimed to have good taste,” replied Takeshi, obviously on the verge of laughing at him.  
  
Tenzo frowned at him exaggeratedly, then turned to bury his head in his hands, groaning. Of course the first friend he made in a while was into the same guy he was. Of course.  
  
Takeshi snickered at his pain, probably unaware of the exact nature of his thoughts, but ordered Tenzo a drink to make up for it.  
  
It was a pretty good start, all things considered.  
  
-  
  
Kinoe met Takeshi at age thirteen.  
  
Kinoe knew that Anko had been marked by Orochimaru, and Danzo wanted her watched. Her primary residence was abandoned. It seemed she was staying with someone else.  
  
The place she was staying at was the newly-acquired abode of one Taizu Takeshi.  
  
To be honest, it was a bit of a shock for Kinoe when he located the place. For a thirteen year old to put down a down-payment on a house? Most genin spent their mission money on weapons, or gear of other kinds, or rent if they had to. Food, of course, was also a priority. To save up enough for a house was a bit alarming.  
  
Admittedly, it was small, but it had a decent if overgrown yard, two stories, and was fairly far from most things, likely making it both desirable and cheap for a ninja for whom travel was easy.  
  
He watched for a week, then two, before he screwed up. He had gone to investigate the garden up close, having grown tired of watching Anko lethargic and downtrodden, and tired of just staring at the uncared for plants.  
  
He hadn't seen the property seals. They must have been hid very well.  
  
Takeshi's eyes met Kinoes mask-covered face as he threw himself out the sliding door, turning as he did so. He stopped, immediately, chakra clutching his feet to the ground and one hand to the wall.  
  
“Ah,” He said, eloquently.  
  
Kinoe, one hand holding a flower he had torn up in the shock of being discovered, face red behind his mask, said nothing.  
  
Taizu Takeshi... relaxed.  
  
He closed his eyes, sighing.  
  
“ANBU-san. Can I help you with anything?”  
  
Kinoe wasn't supposed to be here. He had no idea how to work this situation to his advantage at all. Was he just supposed to... leave? That would be suspicious, right??  
  
“Uh, the garden—”  
  
H cut himself off, horrified. That wasn't what he meant to say at all!  
  
“Oh, yeah.” Surprisingly genin Taizu also looked abashed. “I suppose it does look abandoned, huh?” He glanced around at the overgrown everything, seemingly so longer comfortable with looking directly at Kinoe. “I just got it a few months back—I mean that's no excuse, I guess I should get someone to look at it?” He was turning red. One of his hands had risen to scratch at his neck. “Sorry, I guess I should have at least tried to make it presentable.”  
  
And suddenly, Kinoe had an idea. A way to salvage the situation. Perhaps not one Danzo would appreciate, but...  
  
“I... could try?”  
  
Genin Taizu blinked at him, opening his mouth once before closing it. Then he opened it again. “You want to... fix up my garden?”  
  
Kinoe shrugged.  
  
“I...” Chuunin Taizu hesitated, eyebrows furrowed. “Okay, I guess. I... can't pay you though.”  
  
Kinoe nodded.  
  
They stood there for a few seconds, awkwardly, before genin Taizu cleared his throat. “Right, come inside so I can add you to the property wards. The house wards will be active still but... feel free to come take care of my yard whenever, I guess?”  
  
Kinoe followed him into the house, already regretting it; however, a part of him, one he had tried to deny, perked up at the prospect.  
  
He had no idea how much he'd come to love that garden in the coming years. Unknown to him, Taizu Takeshi knew exactly who he was, and sacrificing some land to give Yamato Tenzo a refuge to hide in was no loss at all.  
  
It would be nearly ten years until the man would feel comfortable approaching him, or to engineer a situation to allow himself to be approached. Ten years of at most companionable silence.  
  
-  
  
Tenzo stopped at the door. “You can pour yourself into bed from here, right?” he asked Takeshi.  
  
“Yeah, but you should come in for a second,” Takishi said, absentmindedly fiddling with a what looked to be a seal on the doorway.  
  
“What? Why?”  
  
“Water, for one,” Takeshi replied. “But also my yard.”  
  
“Oh?” A frisson of pleasure—definitely not he alcohol, he'd made sure not to drink much—wound up his spine. Was Takeshi... proud of it? He seemed to enjoy it on sunny days, but did he show it off? Tenzo wasn't sure if he wanted it to be. A part of him was hoping Takeshi enjoyed it selfishly, hoarding it to himself.  
  
“Yeah,” Takeshi lead him through he entryway to the side door so they didn't need to take their shoes off, grabbing a pair of cups Tenzo knew he'd fill using the hose Tenzo had bought. “Can't take much credit for it though,” he continued, stepping out into the dark of the yard, the light from inside illuminating all but Tenzo's shadow on his back. He stopped, there in the middle of the yard. “There's a guy who did pretty much all this. Quiet guy. Nice.” He turned, looking Tenzo dead in the eyes with his single blue-green stare, half of his face covered in Tenzo's shadow. “It's nice to finally meet him.”  
  
Tenzo wanted to deny it. He hadn't used his jutsu on the garden once in ten years. How did Takeshi know? He felt his eyes widen in dismay, know that as they did he'd be giving himself away.  
  
Takeshi... just smiled. It was a serene smile, a little drunk, a little sad, a little painful, and still happy.   
  
“Thank you, Tenzo. From the bottom of my heart. It's a wonderful garden,” he turned to walk toward the hose. “It means more to me than you know.”  
  
He didn't expect a response, it was clear. He did what he always did when they were in the yard and didn't acknowledge Tenzo at all, he just... let him exist.  
  
Tenzo found himself crying. Not sobbing, nothing sad or angry. It wasn't tears of frustration, or even of joy. Tenzo just felt... relieved. Takeshi knew who he was, and hadn't demanded anything of him, and all he could think of was way back when Takeshi had lost his eye.  
  
They had sat here, side by side, just staring at the plants in the middle of the night. Kinoe didn't know how to comfort. He barely understood the urge.  
  
So they sat there. Takeshi had begun to cry, staring at sleeping daffodils, soft and silent, just tears. Kinoe remained frozen, unable to do anything. They remained like that for twenty minutes, until Takeshi finally spoke.  
  
“Thank you.”  
  
And then:  
  
“You know that if you ever need me for something, you can ask me, right? I know I don't know you, but I think you're not a bad guy, and if you ever need space you can come here, and if you need me to leave, or just sit here, please tell me however you feel most comfortable communicating it.”  
  
That was the night that Taizu Takeshi began to earn the loyalty of the man who would become Yamato Tenzo.  
  
And this night, right now, when Tenzo began to inexplicably cry, all he needed to do was wrap his hand around Takeshi's wrist and whisper one word.  
  
“Stay.”  
  
And in the morning it was Tenzo, not the ANBU guise, who got up int morning to water the yellow daffodils, the magenta zinnias, the cattleya orchids, the stark white gardenias, and the bright pink azaleas. And if he went out to buy some red carnations, well, he made sure to put them near the ivy trellis, his knees in the thick green grass as he worked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to post on valentines day. So I did. There will be more introductions to come, of course, but this one... well. How long does it take to grow trust? For some, it could take seconds. For others, it could take years.
> 
> And here's a gift for your Valentine's day needs: thelanguageofflowers . com


End file.
